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Enjoy the very best of LondonFri, 22 May 2015 17:44:12 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3London Bar and Restaurant News: Recently Opened Bars and Restaurants, and New Venues in 2014http://blog.visitlondon.com/2013/12/london-bar-and-restaurant-news-recently-opened-bars-and-restaurants-and-new-venues-in-2014/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2013/12/london-bar-and-restaurant-news-recently-opened-bars-and-restaurants-and-new-venues-in-2014/#commentsMon, 30 Dec 2013 10:46:42 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=37061London during the festive season: it’s a bubbling cauldron of parties and indulgent champagne catch-ups. It’s therefore probably not the most prolific of seasons for new bar and restaurant openings in London, you’d assume. But London has other ideas, and shows no intention of slowing down at this time of the year.

December has been as busy as any other month this year for new drinking and dining venues in London. The Rum Kitchen (pictured above) opened in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street in Soho, bringing the all-day Caribbean food and drink of its sister restaurant in Notting Hill to the shoppers and visitors of Soho; the New York-esque restaurant, Jackson+Rye, launched its breakfast, brunch and hard shakes menu in the area; whilst finishing off a trio of foreign-inspired Soho eateries, Blanchette, is now proffering a quintessentially Parisian experience in central London’s most exciting neighbourhood.

Further afield, although not much further than Soho just across the road in Fitzrovia, Gangsters Tequila Paradise (pictured above) is a new graffiti-covered, downtown LA noir cocktail bar near Oxford Circus, created by the same team behind the popular London Cocktail Club bars; whilst in Hackney, Oslo, is now open for food, drinks and live music, all in Nordic fashion. Family friendly restaurant, Wildflower Cafe (pictured below), is now serving breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and tea made with responsibly sourced seasonal ingredients in Notting Hill; and Honest Burger has just opened its fifth restaurant in Kings Cross, following successes in Camden, Brixton, Soho and Notting Hill.

London did lose one old favourite this month in the form of Michelin-starred restaurant, Apsleys, when The Lanesborough hotel in Belgravia closed for extensive renovation, not to reopen until the autumn of 2014.

And 2014 is already shaping up to be yet another exciting year for new bars and restaurants in London. Aside from the tantalising news about the former Metropolitan police headquarters at Great Scotland Yard becoming a £100m super luxury hotel (no doubt providing space for a delicious restaurant or three), 2014 will begin with a number of ‘must try’ eating and drinking destinations.

In January, the Great Court Restaurant will open on the mezzanine floor of the Reading Room at the British Museum under the glass roof of, as the name suggests, the Great Court (pictured above). Polpetto will return to Soho after almost two years away; and also in Soho, Vietnamese restaurant, House of Ho, will open on Old Compton Street. Lanes of London will launch on the prestigious Park Lane, combining old-fashioned British heritage with the diverse cultural identity of modern day London (so expect Indian, Vietnamese and Lebanese alongside British cuisine on the menu). My personal favourite, Boom Burger will find its first permanent residence following a string of excellent pop-up occasions and street food performances (note: I have previously claimed this (pictured below) to be “the best burger I’ve ever tasted in London.”)

In February, the Gordon family of Gordon’s Wine Bar will open a coffee company and dining room called Villiers on the street of the same name; Rainer Becker will open a Mayfair branch of his contemporary Japanese robatayaki restaurant, Roka; the Big Easy Bar.B.Q & Crabshack will bring a little American flavour to the West End; and Gordon Ramsay will finally open his London House restaurant and lounge in Battersea Square.

Incidentally, congratulations should also go out to Gordon Ramsay following the 2013 annual Diner’s Choice award recently. Three Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, was proclaimed number one in the Top 100 Best Restaurants in the UK, according to user reviews.

There are plenty more new launch bars and restaurants planned for London in 2014, almost too many to share with you right now. Look out for more bar and restaurant news soon.

One hundred years later, a small community of Chinese sailors settled at Limehouse Causeway. This was one of two small, East End Chinese communities. The other was in Pennyfields in Poplar, where Chinese sailors from Shanghai had settled. Virtually all were single men, some of whom married British women.

By 1914, there were around 30 businesses and 300 people living in these small East End communities. Limehouse and Pennyfields became known as Chinatown, and many of its inhabitants made a living by running laundries.

During the Second World War, the Docklands area, including Chinatown, was badly damaged and many Chinese people moved out. In the 1950s, the market for Chinese food grew and restaurants and stalls began to spring up in Gerrard Street and Lisle Street. This was the start of the Chinatown we know today in Soho.

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2013/02/visiting-the-past-londons-original-chinatown/feed/2The Best Tea Shops in Londonhttp://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/07/the-best-tea-shops-in-london/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/07/the-best-tea-shops-in-london/#commentsMon, 16 Jul 2012 15:00:43 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=27731
Afternoon tea in a hotel or a tea room is the ultimate treat, but tea should be an everyday indulgence. These fine emporiums sell blends to make the perfect cuppa at home.

Postcard TeasIf you really care where your tea comes from, this shop run by well-travelled tea expert Timothy d’Offay is for you. Postcard Teas on New Bond Street claims to be the only shop that reveals the true origins of its teas, marking every tin with the maker or estate’s name and the place of production. You can send someone a “tea postcard” by posting a packet into the shop’s own red postbox.Top tea: The rare Ancient Tree Teas, including a blend from four 100-year-old trees on Wuyi Mountain in China. Only 5-7kg of Oolong tea is made from them every year.

YumchaaYumchaa believes the key factors for a great cup of tea are “the leaf, the water and the freedom for the two to mingle”. So it’s loose leaf or nothing across its four shops – one on Tottenham Street near Goodge Street station, two in Camden and one in Soho.Top tea: Berry Berry Nice, a Rooibos tea with notes of blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, rhubarb, kiwi, vanilla and rose petals. It should be drunk while wearing sunglasses, according to Yumchaa.

TwiningsThomas Twining bought this flagship Twinings shop on The Strand in 1706, as tea became an increasingly popular alternative to the coffee houses springing up in London. It still operates today, albeit in a slightly more modern form. It has a loose tea bar with unusual and expensive teas, a sampling counter where you can try warm teas, and even a small tea museum with old teapots and artefacts from the Twining family.Top tea: The Cutty Sark blend, created to celebrate the reopening of the world’s last remaining tea clipper ship in Greenwich. The black version is a mixture of two Chinese teas: strong sweet leaves from Yunnan province and Keemun tea from Anhui province.

Tea PalaceThis queen of modern tea shops sits in the Market Building in Covent Garden. It sells tea bags and loose leaf tea in regal purple tin caddies. Among more than 160 whole leaf teas, Tea Palacecreates limited edition blends for special occasions – such as an Ultimate Antioxidant Tea Trio to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Games.Top tea:The Diamond Jubilee Blend – although Tea Palace keeps the exact blend of black teas involved a secret.

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/07/the-best-tea-shops-in-london/feed/2In Pictures: Chinese New Year in London 2012http://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/01/in-pictures-chinese-new-year-in-london-2012/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/01/in-pictures-chinese-new-year-in-london-2012/#commentsTue, 31 Jan 2012 16:54:57 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=25217Last Sunday, London’s Chinatown welcomed the Year of the Dragon with the biggest Chinese New Year celebrations outside of China.

Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China, commonly known as “Taiwan”, when they participate in the Olympic Games.

In recent months, Taiwan’s bubble tea has been big news here in London. Bubble tea had previously been sold in stores in Chinatown, but the drink is now going mainstream.

Served warm or cold, bubble tea drinks have a red or green tea base, and are infused with fruit flavours. Then, at the bottom, they have tapioca pearls, called “Boba Pearls.” These pearls have a texture like gummy bears with a slight caramel taste, and take in some of the flavour of the tea. Yum!

London now has a bubble tea gourmet determined to bring the true taste of Taiwan to the city: Bubbleology owner, Assad Khan.

Khan fell in love with the drink while working in New York. Spotting the potential to spread the bubble tea love in London, he opened Bubbleology in Soho earlier this spring.

Khan knows his bubble tea: he drank four or five cups a day in New York, and 40 cups a day on a two-month research trip to Taiwan before setting up business in London. He believes the choice of materials, water temperature and timing were essential. Khan has imported the shakers, plastic-sealing machines and plastic cups from Taiwan, along with the thick straws that allow you to suck up the “bubbles” and chew on them.

His staff, called “Bubbleologists,” have trained under renowned bubble tea masters to learn the exact science of making proper bubble tea. In a nod to the country responsible for this unusual, refreshing drink, they all wear a Republic of China flag pin on their uniforms.

Since 2004, the cultural picture of the UK’s capital has dramatically changed. “The Poles are coming!” the British newspapers shouted. And so we cameâ€¦ in quite big numbers actually (some estimated the total at one million!).

Polish shops (polski sklep) sprang up in every London borough and our rustling language can be heard on practically every street corner.

But our relationship with the UK goes way back and has for a long time influenced cultural life in the capital. Bonnie Prince Charlie was the son of James Francis Edward Stewart and Polish aristocrat Maria Klementyna Sobieska, daughter of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski.

Funnily enough, Poland Street in London’s Soho was named in honour of King Sobieski, who won the Battle of Vienna in 1683 defending Europe against the Ottoman Empire’s army.

The Second World War saw the Polish flying aces fighting in the Battle of Britain and our mathematicians helping to break the Enigma code. After the war, Polish soldiers and their families settled down in the UK, many of them in London, choosing areas such as Ealing and Hammersmith to build their new lives.

The next generations became prominent individuals in the capital’s cultural life, from composers, musicians, artists, to museum and gallery directors, film producers and directors, designers, architectsâ€¦ the list goes on.

So find yourPolish London! Here are a few clues on how to discover it:

Try our food delicacies. Be brave and venture into one of London’s many Polish shops, buy some kieÅ‚basa (polish name for sausage) for the barbeque and try our bread.

See some Polish contemporary art. Works of PaweÅ‚ Althamer, Zbigniew Libera, MirosÅ‚aw BaÅ‚ka, Wilhelm Sasnal and Artur Å»mijewski can be seen in Tate Modern as well commercial galleries such as Gagosian or White Cube. You can also check out London’s branch of Warsaw gallery Lokal 30.

Look out for Polish classical and jazz music. Our orchestras, bands and soloists visit the UK capital very regularly with concerts in venues such as the Barbican, Southbank Centre or Wigmore Hall.

Don’t forget to grab a Polish read. Books by established writers such as MiÅ‚osz, KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski and MroÅ¼ek, as well as contemporaries including Huelle, Tokarczuk and Krajewski, are available in every good bookshop. And for a real literary treat, visit the British Library and ask for the Polish Collection, to see the historical gems as old as 15th century.

So no excuses – Polish London is out there and within easy reach!

Check out the Polish Cultural Institute website www.PolishCulture.org.uk for regular updates on what’s to come. And let us know your Polish London recommendations below…

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/10/poland-in-london-polish-films-food-art-and-more/feed/3Photographers’ Gallery to Close for Major Redevelopmenthttp://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/09/photographers-gallery-to-close-for-major-redevelopment/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/09/photographers-gallery-to-close-for-major-redevelopment/#commentsTue, 07 Sep 2010 11:48:48 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=14235

London’s Photographers’ Gallery will close on 19 September for major redevelopment. When the gallery reopens in late 2011 it will boast three floors of gallery space, a ground floor café, a bigger bookshop, better accessibility and a whole floor dedicated to learning.

“We’re bursting at the seams,” said the gallery’s director Brett Rogers. “With the Sally Mann show, we’ve been getting eight to 10 thousand visitors a week.”

The new gallery will have room for larger scale works and more exhibitions. It will also respond to the changing landscape of photography, with a digital wall where members of the public can upload their own photos.

During the closure, look out for pop-up Photographers’ Gallery exhibitions around London:

FrenchMottershead will take to the streets of Soho with their quirky, interactive work

Anders Petersen will invite people to be photographed in his London hotel room

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/09/photographers-gallery-to-close-for-major-redevelopment/feed/1Visit London Asks: Where Do You Get London’s Best Fish and Chips?http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/08/visit-london-asks-where-do-you-get-londons-best-fish-and-chips/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/08/visit-london-asks-where-do-you-get-londons-best-fish-and-chips/#commentsMon, 09 Aug 2010 08:00:09 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=12955Next Monday 16 August, The Golden Union Fish Bar in Soho is celebrating 150 years of British cuisine favourite, Fish & Chips!

According to Golden Union, Joseph Malin set up the first chip shop in Cleveland Street in London’s East End in 1860 on this date.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, Golden Union is offering the first 150 customers through their door on 16 August a fish and chips meal for £1.50 each. Good luck!

It got us wondering, where do you go for London’s best fish and chips?

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/08/visit-london-asks-where-do-you-get-londons-best-fish-and-chips/feed/10Video of the Week: Day in Londonhttp://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/07/video-of-the-week-day-in-london/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2010/07/video-of-the-week-day-in-london/#commentsFri, 30 Jul 2010 14:30:49 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=12733

This week, we’ve spotted this great video from lebensgeniesser1, although the credits say it was written by Dave Hughes, with co-writers Chris, Fiona, James, Joleen, Niamh, Richard, and Stuart.

They describe it as follows:

an experiment — mixing (a) old friends, (b) new friends, (c) the capital city of a kingdom, (d) 1,200 photos, and (e) late afternoon ice cream in the park.

It certainly looks like they had a great time. Look out for the V&A, Harrods, Hyde Park and Old Compton Street in Soho on a pretty packed day out in London. Plus great music from The Killers!